Acupuncture is a whole system of health and thus able to treat all emotional and physical disorders.
Acupuncture is a well known way of helping with pain reduction, muscle strengthening, fertility and wellness of being.Acupuncture is just one component of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), along with Chinese herbal medicine, moxibustion, and tui na (a form of massage). This system of medicine has been in use for at least 2000 years.
It involves the insertion of very fine needles (nothing like a hypodermic needle!) into selected points on the energy meridians. There are about 360 points on the body, and each has its own set of functions. Some points are used very commonly, and others are rarely used. The principle of the treatment is to select points that will unblock ‘stagnant' energy in the body, or tonify areas where there is insufficient energy.
Traditional Chinese Medicine examines and treats the flow of energy, or qi, in the body. This energy flows through channels called meridians. When energy flows freely through the meridians, we have no health problems and no pain. The free flow of energy can be blocked by injuries (old or recent), invasion of pathogens from outside our bodies, dietary or lifestyle factors that set up an energetic imbalance, individual predisposition to certain problems (the quality of the energy that you were born with), and emotional factors such as grief, shock, excessive worry, pent up anger, and frustration.
The aim of the Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner is to diagnose the underlying cause of any imbalances in the individual patient, and to help the patient's own body to correct them.
Chinese herbs are almost always used in a formula containing several herbs. The formula is selected to suit the individual patient, so that side-effects are avoided. The diagnostic method used for herbs is the same as that used for acupuncture, but in using herbs the diagnosis needs to be more exact, as substances are being added to the body, rather than using the body's own energy to heal itself. Herbs can be used to treat long-term underlying weaknesses that may respond very slowly to acupuncture alone. These days Chinese herbs are usually taken in the form of small pills, or as capsules.
